THE THINGS THEY CARRIED, Tim O'Brien
This is the third time I've read this book and each time I've liked it more. As we get further from those years--the ones of the war in Vietnam, this book reminds me of what sacrifices young men made and also how a group of ragtag protesters were able to end it. Eventually.
My book group chose it for their July selection hence the third read.
TTTC is actually a series of stories based on O'Brien's tour of duty in Vietnam. The first and title story is about the actual things found in soldier's packs, pockets, hearts. Other stories consider various issues faced by soldiers--often very young soldiers--most of whom have not even had a real girlfriend to leave behind.
My favorite story tells of a girl who came to Vietnam to be with her boyfriend and how the experience changed her--even her body becomes soldier-like as she goes further and further in country. Another heart-breaking tale details how the author was on his way to Canada when a man, near the border, put him up while he thought it over. The simple days they spent together convinced the author he could only live with himself if he went to Vietnam despite his hatred of the war.
These are strong, wonderfully written stories and if you want to understand a soldier's life especially during the war in Vietnam, this is a great place to start.
For more reviews, go to Barrie Summy's blog.
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26 comments:
Not so much ragtag as so obviously right, as far as the majority of US citizens were concerned, that the war was not serving any just or useful purpose...just chewing up the locals and the young men and some young women that were being sent by Lyndon and Dick...to save whom?
You can keep Americans interested in supporting dictatorship, even againts dictatorship, only so long when it means their kids have a good shot at having their lives messed over even if not lost.
Happily, Nixon's other adventures helped sour the majority on any of his pronouncements. Sadly, neither Ford nor Carter bothered to offer compelling reasons for the majority to regain any faith in centriat government, and the reactionary yahoos swept in.
Sounds like a very stirring, powerful read. I have a brother who did two tours in Vietnam and to this day doesn't talk about it.
I may just have to snag a copy of this. Thanks Patti.
I've read this several times as well, Patti. One of my favorites.
My brother-in-law survived his tour but not his wounds.
Sorry to read that, Patti. Your husband's brother or...?
Just listening to Harry Shearer mocking (and agreeing with) Henry Kissinger for suggesting that the current Afghanistan policy is ill-thought-out...rather as with a certain other set of policies Kissinger was rather more directly involved with.
I read this book when it was first published. It was a sensation back then.
I've used the title story in creative writing classes; it's really a masterful example of using the concrete to convey the emotional underpinnings. It's so wonderfully constructed, I am amazed over and over again each time I read it.
I especially like the way he comes at the same events from different directions. He reports on what the life of a man he's killed must have been like and then he reports on the actual event from his own POV. A perfect collection for a writing class.
Have read at least a couple of the stories, in their O. HENRY or BASS years, and in a FFB anthology I'll be finishing RSN...really should read the whole collection, of course.
And condolences to your brother, too, David. All my relatives just lucked out during those years, if luck is what it was (one, a police officer, was murdered) in terms of their military deployment...
Has anyone read beyond THINGS and presumably GOING AFTER CACCIATO, which I've also been meaning to get to?
I did read it back when it came out but this book seems to have stayed with me more. I also have a book by him with Lake in the title somewhere packed away. But I never read that one.
Yes, Phil's brother. Won a Silver Star and three purple hearts but never recovered from it all.
Your brother was murdered? That's worse.
This is the O'Brien book most people seem to have read, and rightly so. Of his novels, probably "Going After Cacciato" is the most famous, but I prefer "In the Lake of the Woods" and recommend it very highly.
My maternal uncle. Named for his father, who was also murdered (a crew boss in WV mining, someone who wanted his job engineered a cave-in that got him and several others). No more Andrews in our family, if we choose to be superstitious (my grandfather was Erigo Rocchi, but had picked up the nickname "Andy" somehow...my brother is James Eric, and we call him Eric, for Erigo). (Funny to see I AM LOVE/SONO AMORE over the weekend and the Milanese textile magnate family being the Recchis.)
That's the one I have somewhere. Have to track it down.
Did you like I AM LOVE, Todd?
Blogspot ate my first response.
Almost. It's more about the cinematography than anything else, though Swinton, a producer, was as good as one might expect (she plays a Russian who married some decades past into the Italian family, so amusingly doesn't understand the query put to her by an American at a party...her Italian and Russian both sound good to me).
WINTER'S BONE made a stronger impression, though both are about survival, whether in abject poverty or in ridiculous wealth, and both remind me of the extended family...
I think that first story would end up being my favorite. The belongings people keep close to them reveal a lot.
And it is a great, great story.
It must be great if you read it 3 times. Thanks for introducing me to this author.
I completed two tours of duty in Viet Nam, but I had no knowledge of this book.
I remember carrying a very nice stainless steel Zippo lighter even though I didn't smoke. I found it to be one of the most useful things I had on me. I still have that lighter. All of my kids want it.
Read this book, Chuck. It's very autobiographical and will take you back to then if you can bear to go there.
I've been meaning to read something by Tim O'Brien. I tend to read short stories more in the summer. I think because I have shorter reading times with kids' home. Sounds like a great, thought-provoking book. Thanks, Patti,
This book, and especially its snapshot of an era, sounds very interesting. I am a huge fan of the music of the Vietnam era but have read precious little of the soldier experience outside history books. This book fits that deficit.
In the Lake of the Woods is excellent. After I read a library copy, I ended up buying the book for my collection. Time magazine called it the best novel of 1994. Just saw that when I pulled his 2002 novel, July, July off the shelf. Might be a good read for Lake Winnipeg this weekend. I can't afford a summer cottage on the Lake of the Woods.
I remember reading the short story when it came out in one of those Esquire Summer Reading issues of the magazine and then reading Going After Cacciato.
At that time I also read Bobbie Ann Mason's, In Country and thought it was terrific as well.
Sorry for this late post, but I had to comment. I've given away easily a dozen copies of this book, I love it that much.
The last time was to my nephew, in high school at the time, who wanted to know what it felt like to have the draft hanging over your head.
I served 3 years, 1969 to 1971, most of my time was in Latin America, so I was lucky.A lot of the men I trained with were not.
I love the way he rethinks stories and incidents throughout the book. I spent some time at the local Vietnam Vets venue here when I took two courses on the war in the late nineties. A lot of men survived in body only. And we never learn.
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